April Goals Update

Running goals

Since setting some running goals for the year I've increased my weekly distance by about 10 km more or less meeting my target distance for each week. I've also done better than I expected at improving my pace so far. I participated in the Cherry Festival 10k run where I had a new personal record time for a 10k (57:46 according to strava).

However, this last week I've started to feel sluggish and worn out every run. I've been running three times a week since I started adding distance. One of those runs for the last several weeks has been a 10k. Last weeks pace was the first time since I started that I did not make my pace goal I felt pretty miserable all week. I think it's time to run four times a week at shorter distances and not have a weekly 10k until it's a necessity to reach 40k per week goal. I'm only about half way through my goal of building up to that distance per week and I don't want to feel miserable the entire time. So far this week 4 runs 7k or less feels much more manageable.

Writing goals

Dearest readers I have failed you! I only contributed 3 blog posts to the cosmos last month. I guess I should try for at least five this month. Putting a sufficient amount of research and thought to make a well formed opinion is a lot more time consuming than its sounds. I did write a first draft for a little short story which is none too exciting and will probably never see the outside of my drive folder,. Better than nothing which is really my goal I suppose.

Comments

Why I'm running for the parks board

Two months ago now I declared my candidacy for election to Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District Board of Directors Position Number Five. A mouth full of a title. I really enjoy our local parks and have no major qualms with the parks district or the current board. They have done a fine job maintaining and improving existing parks and programs. So there's question you are probably asking and I am required to ask myself. Why am I running? Democracy requires contest What is the point of an election with only one candidate? Without contested races there is almost no need for real public discourse unless some controversy springs up. This is all too common for local elections in Wasco County. Uncontested races are akin to a business handing a job to the first and only applicant. This wouldn't work in the private sector and it shouldn't work for public offices. Surely the citi...

Book Review: Tribes

Tribes by Seth Godin is a quick read on leadership. I read this book because it was listed on "Books every leader needs to read" or some such similarly named list. There are some good bits to glean out of this short book. I'll try to condense them here: Managers are not by nature leaders. Managers allocate resources to accomplish a defined outcome. Leaders change things by setting a vision and building a tribe around that vision. Tribes are everywhere big and small. Mega-tribes, sub-tribes, etc. Leadership is inherent risky. But far less risky than our minds tend to think. This is evidenced by the many failures of several highly successful leaders. (Think Elon Musk and the Tesla Truck presentation ). Find people who are doing exceptionally better than average and amplify their influence on everyone else. Leadership is about challenging the status quo. It is s...

Redistricting Oregon.

Earlier last month Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson announced his plans for a constructional amendment to place the task of redistricting into the hands of an independent commission. Currently Oregon is one of the many states in which redistricting is handled by the legislature themselves. Democrats in the state were quick to reject the plan as a Republican power grab, an attempt to gerrymander the state. In 2011 something that hadn't happened for several decades occurred in Oregon. The legislature was able to pass a redistricting plan without challenge from the Supreme Court or the Governor. This is especially surprising because the House of Representatives at the time was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. The redistricting bill passed with a wide margin. You could say that the redistricting plan of 2011 was bipartisan, but were districts still gerrymandered? Gerrymandering in Oregon? ...

Mr. Polehn writes

Search This Blog